Republicans love to ride the 9-11 fear wave but when it comes to doing something -- anything -- to help the first responders who suffer from health problems as a result of that fateful day, they're nowhere to be found.
The health care program for 9/11 first responders expired at midnight Wednesday, but supporters expect to make it permanent long before it runs out of money sometime next year.
Congress recessed without reauthorizing the James Zadroga Health and Compensation Act, which covers medical care for those who became sick after working at the World Trade Center following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Former "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart has made the program — named for a New York cop who died of a respiratory disease after he worked for almost a full month at Ground Zero — a public cause, personally lobbying lawmakers to act before its Oct. 1 "sunset" date.
"We never intended for this important legislation to expire so quickly, but, once again, Washington politics got in the way," Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Jerrold Nadler and Peter King of New York wrote in an op-ed Wednesday in the political newspaper The Hill.
"Congress cannot fail these men and women," they wrote. "Without action, our 9/11 heroes will receive notices in the spring that our country has failed to stand by them."
The act is fully funded well into 2016, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, told reporters earlier this month that "we do plan to extend the program."
Sure they do. Just like they plan to "replace" Obamacare. They don't give a fck about anyone but themselves.
